Better Than Cold Calling!
I wrote this for http://eTIP.ca in June, 2002, over 4 years ago, and thought it has enough merit to repeat.Back in the early eighties I figured there must be other, less daunting ways to prospect than cold calling, and asking friends for referrals.
Two issues of Howard Shenson's "The Professional Consultant" proved me right.
Both gave the results of surveys on practice-building techniques. One showed the percentages of high earning and low earning advisors using each technique. The other gave their estimates of how effective those surveyed felt each technique was in attracting and retaining clients.
I learned from the first survey that high earners use more techniques than low earners. While the second survey told me that some widely used techniques were not considered to be very effective.
Howard hadn't combined these two sets of results, so I did.
By figuring out which were both effective, AND used by more top earners, I'd know the few to concentrate on.
Here they are, in order of merit:
1. Working the Contact/Referral Market
2. Publishing a Newsletter
3. Conducting Seminars/Teaching Classes
4. Writing Articles for Newspapers, Magazines, Books
5. Speeches, Talks to Civic, Trade, and Select Audiences
Some things are immediately evident.
Some techniques are easier than others. For example, you don't have to write your own newsletter---you can buy it.
And some techniques take less time than others. Writing an article takes less time than giving a speech, because a speech must also be written.
But there are ways to tame the time problem, and ideas to enhance effectiveness. As you'll see in future TIPs.
And thanks to new communication methods we have more alternatives to cold calling than in 1980.
Which we'll discuss in future issues of TIP (visit http://eTIP.ca for subscription details).
Don
posted by Don @ 10:16 AM
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